Hartley Richardson is the Richie Rich of agriculture.
The president of James Richardson & Sons Ltd. heads the 26th wealthiest family in the country, according to the August issue of Canadian Business magazine.
Nobody in the top 25 has made their fortune in agriculture, so that makes the Richardson family Canada’s richest agricultural tycoons.
The family’s estimated net worth of $860 million has largely been amassed through its grain industry dealings, but their company is also involved in real estate, oil and gas and investments. Hartley is the fifth generation of Richardsons to run the family business.
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The founder and namesake of the company was a tailor’s apprentice who began marketing grain in Kingston, Ont., back in 1857, 10 years before confederation. In 1883 James Richardson arranged the first shipment of western grain to England by way of Canada’s new rail line and the Great Lakes. The family moved its business to Winnipeg around the turn of the century.
In 1913 the Richardsons founded Pioneer Grain, which now handles grains, oilseeds and crop inputs across Western Canada.
One of their most successful ventures was an investment security firm established in the 1920s that became Canada’s largest privately owned financial institution. According to the magazine, the sale of Richardson Greenshields to the Royal Bank in 1996 gave the family more cash and investments than operations in its portfolio.
The family still owns a number of significant assets including the historic Lombard Place complex in Winnipeg, which includes their 32-storey head office. They also control 250 oil and gas wells in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, two grain terminals, two transfer facilities, 109 primary elevators and a chain of country stores in British Columbia.
A new $65 million acquisition is 93.4 percent of the shares of Canbra Foods, a Lethbridge, Alta.-based canola crusher and refiner.
